


Makeshift Christmas

by Preathea



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, Sort Of Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:55:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21961705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Preathea/pseuds/Preathea
Summary: "Cancelled flights and money problems cause Will and Nico to spend Christmas at school instead of with family. "Solangelo College AU
Relationships: Nico di Angelo/Will Solace
Comments: 2
Kudos: 68





	Makeshift Christmas

Will walked the empty halls of the dormitory, humming under his breath. There had been more people in the halls a few hours earlier as people scrambled to get to the airport to catch their planes out of town. Now, they were all gone, so there was no one to get in his way of using the floor’s kitchenette to back some sugar cookies. He couldn’t get home to have his mother’s and his siblings had eaten them all before she could send him any, so he planned to just make some himself to have through the month-long break between semesters. 

Arriving at the kitchenette, he rolled the small crate holding the ingredients to a corner before unloading it and beginning to mix dough together. His mother’s recipe was, thankfully, one that he did not have to chill before baking. He didn’t have the patience to wait through that. 

Once the dough was thoroughly mixed, Will grabbed some parchment paper to spread across the counter. He grabbed the bag of flour and set it next to the parchment. As he was sprinkling flour over the paper, he heard a loud curse from the hall. 

He dusted the flour off his hands and walked over to the door. When he peeked out of it, he saw someone struggling to drag bags down the hall. A mop of black hair shook as they tugged at one that was caught on the door and tried to push the other bag that was ahead of them. Snow dusted the stranger’s hair and shoulders. He must have just come back inside. 

“Need some help?” Will asked. The stranger jumped and looked around at him, dark eyes locking onto Will’s. The boy’s eyes were rimmed in red, a clear sign that he was upset. Will recognized him – Nico Di Angelo. He shook his head and turned his attention back to his bags. He final got the bag that was stuck around the corner and wheeled his way down the hall, past the door that Will stood in and towards the elevators. He cursed again after looking at them. The elevators were turned off during the winter weeks, to save energy. Most people left anyway, so there weren’t enough people to complain. 

Will glance back at his dough and sighed. He walked out to the boy. “Are you sure? You can even just leave one bag with me if you don’t want me to know what room you’re in.” He already knew the boy’s room. Nico was in a different major than him, but Will had noticed him in the halls. How could he not? They were on the same floor, and the boy’s friends weren’t exactly quiet. “Or you could help me get the cookies in the oven. Then we could run the bags up while they bake.” 

Nico sighed before speaking and turned back to Will. “I could use a break,” he admitted noncommitting. Will smiled and grabbed one of the bags from him, dragging it back to the kitchen. He could hear Nico behind him. He opened the door and maneuvered the bag into the kitchen. He held the door for Nico before returning this station from before. 

Will applied more flour to the parchment paper and grabbed the dough, laying it in the middle of the paper. He rolled it out flat and then turned to the cookie cutters, covering them in flour as well to prevent sticking. He sprayed the pan down and finally turned on the oven to begin preheating. Then, he began to press the cookie cutter into the dough, starting on the outer edge of the dough to get as many cookies cut before he had to reroll the dough. 

As he cut out the cookies and transferred them to the greased pan, he glanced at Nico who sat in the corner looking at him. “Did you want to help?” Will asked. Nico shrugged, not taking his eyes off Will. Will frowned and took his attention back to the dough. Once he’d run out of dough that he could cut from, he balled the leftover dough again and rolled it out. 

The oven beeped behind him, indicating that the oven was preheated, and Will turned to put the first pan of cookies in. He prepped the second pan, set a timer, and turned back to the dough. He filled the second pan with cookies cut from the rest of the dough, balling and re rolling it twice more before he was done. The timer rang, indicating that the first batch was done, so Will took it out of the oven, and placed it to the side, before putting the other pan in the oven and setting the timer on his phone again. He washed his hands before he turned back to Nico. 

“We’ve got a good ten minutes to get your bags up stairs and get back down. Shall we?” Nico didn’t answer, but he also didn’t stop Will when he grabbed one of the bags and took off towards the stairs. He took them two at a time, up to the fourth floor and stopped and held the door open for Nico. The other boy raised an eyebrow at him, but he entered the floor and led Will to his room. Will carted the bag inside and turned to leave. 

He paused before letting the door shut behind him. “Do you want to come down and help frost? I mean, if you have nothing better to do.” 

Nico looked at him for a moment before shrugging and pocketing his key again. “Sure,” he said. 

Will led the way back down to the third floor kitchenette – unfortunately, there was only a kitchen on the odd numbered floors - and hurried to check on the cookies as soon as they got back. The timer on his phone went off as he opened the oven. He pulled them out and set them aside to cool. Quickly gathering the parchment paper covered in flour up into a ball, he threw it in the trash can before turning to grab a rag to wipe the countertop down. Nico appeared with a broom when he was done, and Will smiled in gratitude as the other boy quickly swept the floor. 

“So, what happened?” Will asked as they began frosting the first batch of cookies. Nico looked at him with a raised eyebrow, and Will shrugged. “It looked like you were planning to go home.” 

Nico sighed and put down the cookie he’d just iced, grabbing some silver sprinkles. “Sudden snowstorm. They’re not letting any planes leave today.” 

Will winced. “Bummer. So, you’re staying here for Christmas then?” 

Nico nodded. “It’s in three days after all.” Will set aside the cookie he’d finished with and turned to look at the other boy. Nico scowled at the cookie he was working on. 

After a moment of thought, Will said, “If you don’t want to be alone, you could spend it with me.” He turned back to the cookies, hoping the blush that was surely spreading wasn’t too obvious. “I mean, if you don’t have anyone around here to spend it with.” 

“I don’t.” The answer came quickly, and Will flashed Nico a smile. Nico took a shaking breath and continued, “I mean – I’d like that.” 

“Great!” They finished frosting the cookies. Neither spoke during that time, but they exchanged small smiles throughout it. 

Once they were done, Will carefully put the cookies into baggies that he had prepared, and Nico took on the task of cleaning the kitchen behind them, even going so far as to wash Will’s pans and cooling racks. “You didn’t have to do that,” Will said as he dried them off. “But thank you for your help.” 

As Will put everything away, Nico turned to the door. “Wait!” Will quickly stuffed the cooling rack in his hand into the crate. He grabbed one of the five baggies of cookies that he’d made and held it out. “Here, take these.” 

Nico took it with a hesitant smile. “Thanks.” Nico walked back to the door and opened it. He turned back, his face red. “Happy Solstice,” he said, before leaving. Will smiled as he resumed packing his stuff back into the crate. He walked back to his room, carrying the crate up the stairs with a struggle, stowed the cookies away, and laid down on his bed. He could hardly wait for Christmas at this point. 

*****

Will went through the next three days as usual, though counting down the days until Christmas with much more impatience. Work was as expected; people got ruder the closer it was to the Holiday. Retail was the one part of the holiday season that could get under Will’s skin. 

Christmas finally came and, with it, the realization that he didn’t have a gift for Nico. He hadn’t expected to actually start spending time with his semester long crush at Christmas. He didn’t know much about the Freshman, other than that he was a history major and that he was friends with mostly seniors and juniors who lived off campus. 

It was too late to stress about it, but Will couldn’t help but worry anyway as he made his way down the hall to Nico’s room that morning. Still, he pushed the thought to the back of his mind and knocked on the dorm door. When it creaked open a few minutes later, he smiled brightly. “Good morning! I always start Christmas with breakfast, so I thought I’d come invite you to join me.” 

Nico looked at him through half-lidded eyes, and Will wondered if he had just woken up. He glanced at the watch on his wrist. It was already almost 10. How could someone sleep in on Christmas? 

Nico blinked slowly and yawned. “Give me a few minutes to get dressed.” 

“No need; we’re just going to make some food in the kitchenette.” Will preferred eating breakfast in his pajamas whenever he could. 

Nico scowled. “I’d still like to shower,” he grumbled, and Will responded with another bright smile. 

“That’s fine. Meet me at the third floor kitchenette. I’ll get food started, while you shower, kay?” Nico nodded and closed the door. 

Will made his way back to his room, trying not to think about Nico’s expression. Maybe this hadn’t been the best idea. He shook his head at the thought as he grabbed ingredients and cooking utensils before heading to the kitchenette.

By the time the pancakes were done and he was working on scrambling the eggs, Nico had arrived and was watching him from the corner again. He dished the food onto the plates and carried them over to Nico. He set one in front of Nico and sat down across from him. “Dig in.” Will gestured with his fork before doing just that himself. 

Will looked up at Nico after finishing his food. “So… are you feeling better?” Nico looked up at him, face scrunched in confusion, so Will clarified. “After your shower? Are you feeling more awake?” 

“Uh… yeah.” Nico muttered the words, setting his fork down on the plate. “Sorry about that… I’m not really a morning person.” 

Will beamed. “No problem. Sorry for waking you up; we didn’t really talk about where or when we’d meet up.” Silence fell between them, and Will stood up again, grabbing the dishes from the table and washing them and the pans. Nico grabbed a towel and started drying and putting the dishes into Will’s bags. 

“So… uh… what did you plan for today?” Nico asked after a while. 

“I thought we’d just go to my room and hang out. Watch some Christmas movies, talk to each other…” There wasn’t much to his dorm Christmases. He had a few gifts that his mother had sent him, but he’d wait to open them until Nico wasn’t around. He didn’t want to remind him that his own plans had fallen through. “Oh! And we have the cookies from yesterday and some homemade candies that my mother sent me.” 

Nico raised an eyebrow at his excitement. “That sounds great,” he said softly. With everything clean and put away, Will grabbed the bags and led them back to his dorm. 

“You can sit anywhere. My roommate is gone for break.” He busied himself with putting away the food and dishes. “What do you feel like watching?” 

Nico thought for a moment before frowning. “Maybe we should browse Netflix?” 

“Sure,” Will said, opening his laptop and connecting it to the television. “Or Hulu. I’ve got both. If we get desperate, I’ve even got Amazon Prime.” Nico snorted, and Will grinned at him. He opened Netflix and scrolled down to the section titled ‘Holidays’. Then he scrolled through them. 

“So…” he asked, turning to Nico, “Do you want a Christmas comedy or maybe a Hallmark Christmas movie?” 

“Aren’t those the same?” Nico asked snorting. Will grinned. 

“I mean, the Hallmark movies aren’t intentionally a joke,” he said. “We could also watch a classic.” He paused on ‘It’s a Wonderful Life.’ Nico wrinkled his nose. 

“My dad always makes us watch that one. Even though we technically celebrate Yule, and not Christmas, he is obsessed with those old Christmas movies.” 

Will chuckled. “I think it’s an older man thing. The few times I’ve spent Christmas with my dad instead of my mom, he’s had us watch classic versions of A Christmas Carol. I’m so sick of that story now.” 

Nico grinned, though the expression faded quickly, and he sighed. 

Will scrolled through a few more movies. “If you don’t mind me asking, why didn’t you leave earlier?” 

Nico groaned. “I originally had a flight scheduled for the 13th, but I had a final that wasn’t until the 15th, so I had to reschedule, and the soonest one that had a guaranteed me a spot wasn’t until the 21st. I was on a wait list for the other flights out, but I never got called for those seats.” 

Will winced. His family didn’t have the money for him to fly back to Tennessee every break, so he simply went back over the summer. He couldn’t imagine having to miss out on seeing his family when he’d planned it. “That sounds rough. What does your family think about it?” 

“Well, my dad got a refund on my ticket. They’ve instead shipped out my gifts and will fly me back for Spring break. It sucks, but we can’t control the weather.” 

Will nodded, and pressed play on whatever movie was selected. It didn’t really matter what they watched. 

The movie started, and they began exchanging holiday stories, all the things that they missed and what they didn’t. Nico explained that his friends had all made it home before him, so their apartments were empty. Though, he was checking on their pets while they were gone (a fish in one apartment, and a cat in another). Otherwise, he probably would have spent the holiday with them in the first place. “We used to do a White Elephant in high school. The gifts were horrible, but it was fun.” 

Will smiled. “I’ve done a White Elephant, but my family mostly does Secret Santa. With so many of us, it’s easiest to just buy gifts for one person every year.” 

Nico cocked his head to the side. “How many siblings do you have anyway?” 

“Four that I’ve lived with, but since my dad is a bit… promiscuous, there are more than that.” Will frowned. “We’ve never had the whole lot together.” 

Nico nodded, looking thoughtful at the idea. “I have two sisters. I don’t know that I’d want more than that.” 

“It’s fun, but it is a lot of work,” Will said, laughing. “The house is certainly never quiet.” They chatted about their siblings a little longer. 

They started another movie after the first was over and continued chatting about their friends and families. After the second movie, they returned to the kitchenette to make some semblance of a Christmas dinner, continuing their conversation all the while. 

After they ate their food, Will pulled out two miniature pies and grinned. “I hope you like Apple. I just got two of them and some ice cream for dessert.” 

“That sounds good,” Nico said, “Thanks.” They heated the pies and ate them, returning to Will’s room only after the kitchenette was cleaned. 

They watched a few more movies before Will started falling asleep halfway through a Hallmark Christmas special and Nico’s detailed analysis of everything that was wrong with these movies. Will slumped over, his head landing on Nico’s shoulder, stopping the younger boy mid-sentence. 

“I – uh – I should probably go,” he whispered, and Will shot up. 

“You can stay if you want,” Will said, but a yawn sprung from him following the statement. 

Nico chuckled and smiled weakly. “It’s fine. I’ll let you sleep. It looks like you’re not much of a night person.” 

Nico stood up and walked to the door. Will followed him. “I can walk you up to your room…” Will offered, stifling another yawn. 

“No, I’d be worried about you getting back down safely.” Will chuckled. He didn’t really want the night to be over, but Nico was right. He was falling asleep.

“I’ll see you around then?” Nico nodded, and Will took another chance. “Maybe we could go out next time. Like on a date?” Nico flushed at the question. 

“Umm… I don’t know…” 

“No pressure or anything,” Will said, holding his hands up. “I just thought… well today was so fun. I’d like to get to know you more.” 

Nico was still red, but he nodded. “Why don’t we start with a phone number?” Will beamed and handed over his phone. 

Nico typed in his phone and handed it back. “Then, good night. “ 

Will looked at his phone and quickly typed out a message to Nico’s phone, so that the other boy would have his number as well. It had been a much better Christmas than the year before, and… it was a start.

**Author's Note:**

> Merry Christmas! I hope you all enjoy this story; it's the first fanfiction I'm posting. Feel free to check out my original fiction if you feel like it.


End file.
